Ice tray with integral twist restoring element

ABSTRACT

A twist action ice tray for an automatic ice maker having a deformable plastic bin or ice cube holder which may be twisted and deformed to harvest ice cubes therefrom. The tray has relatively rigid inboard and outboard end portions which are twisted with respect to each other during ice harvest. The tray driving or twisting action occurs at the outboard end portion of the tray, while the inboard portion is restrained. To assure that the ice tray returns to a proper position after ice harvest, a biasing means is actuated during the harvest cycle which places a restoring torque on the tray. When ice harvest is completed, the restoring torque returns the tray to a proper position. The biasing or restoring torque is provided by a coil spring which is positioned centrally within a tray driving gear in the automatic ice maker. The coil spring has a pair of ends which are positioned at opposite sides of a spacer bar at the hub of the tray driving gear. The ice tray has a finger like projection which extends from the inboard end portion of the tray further inwardly to be positioned between the opposite ends of the coil spring. As the tray driving gear is rotated during ice harvest, it carries the coil spring with it. One of the legs or ends of the coil spring engages the finger like projection of the tray and is restrained from rotating with the tray driving gear. In this way the ends of the spring are spread apart as tray rotation increases and a restoring torque is exerted on the projection like finger and hence on the tray itself.

United States Patent 15] 3,648,964 [451 Mar. 14, 1972 Fox [54] ICE TRAYWITH INTEGRAL TWIST RESTORING ELEMENT [72] Inventor: William L. Fox,Niles, lll. [73] Assignee: Eaton Yale & Towne, Inc., Morton Grove,

Ill.

[22] Filed: Feb. 12, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 10,779

[52] U.S. Cl. ..249/69, 249/127, 249/203 [51] Int. Cl ..B28b 7/10 [58]Field of Search ..249/6973, 117, 249/127, 137, 203, 66

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,269,139 8/1966 De Vincent..249/7O X 3,217,508 11/1965 Beck et al. ..249/127 X 3,071,933 l/l963Shoemaker ....249/l27 X 3,217,510 11/1965 Kniffen et al. ..249/l27 XPrimary Examiner-J. Spencer Overholser Assistant ExaminerDe Walden W.Jones Attomey-l-lill, Sherman, Meroni, Gross & Simpson [5 7] ABSTRACT Atwist action ice tray for an automatic ice maker having a deformableplastic bin or ice cube holder which may be twisted and deformed toharvest ice cubes therefrom. The tray has relatively rigid inboard andoutboard end portions which are twisted with respect to each otherduring ice harvest. The tray driving or twisting action occurs at theoutboard end portion of the tray, while the inboard portion isrestrained. To assure that the ice tray returns to a proper positionafter ice harvest, a biasing means is actuated during the harvest cyclewhich places a restoring torque on the tray. When ice harvest iscompleted, the restoring torque returns the tray to a proper position.The biasing or restoring torque is provided by a coil spring which ispositioned centrally within a tray driving gear in the automatic icemaker. The coil spring has a pair of ends which are positioned atopposite sides of a spacer bar at the hub of the tray driving gear. Theice tray has a finger like projection which extends from the inboard endportion of the tray further inwardly to be positioned between theopposite ends of the coil spring. As the tray driving gear is rotatedduring ice harvest, it carries the coil spring with it. One of the legsor ends of the coil spring engages the finger like projection of thetray and is restrained from rotating with the tray driving gear. In thisway the ends of the spring are spread apart as tray rotation increasesand a restoring torque is exerted on the projection like finger andhence on the tray itself.

6 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures PAIENTEDMARMIBIE 3,648,964

SHEET 1 UF 3 w M .A Z y i ATTORNEYS PATENTEDMAR 14 I972 3. 648 964 sum 2OF 3 ICE TRAY WITH INTEGRAL TWIST RESTORING ELEMENT BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION twisted or deformed by a rotating element to harvest ice cubesI from the tray.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is a principal feature of the presentinvention to provide an improved ice twist tray for an automatic icemaking device.

It is another feature of the present invention to provide an ice twisttray having means for restoring the tray to an undeformed position afteran ice harvest.

It is a principal object of the present invention to provide an ice cubetray for an automatic ice making device having a twist restoring elementprojecting from the tray to cooperate with a torque restoring spring inthe ice making device.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an ice cubetray having a relatively deformable body or bin portion and havingrelatively rigid outboard and inboard end flanges wherein the tray istwisted at the outboard end flange and is restrained at the inboard endand wherein the ice tray has a finger like projection extending from thetray inwardly of the inboard end portion to be received within theautomatic ice maker.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide an ice cubetray as described above wherein the finger like torque restoringprojection of the ice tray is formed integrally with a reinforcingflange which flange is molded into the inboard end of the ice tray.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the invention willbe readily apparent from the following description of a certainpreferred embodiment thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, although variations and modifications may be effected withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of thedisclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a top elevational view of anice tray and ice maker mechanism of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the ice maker shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an end view of the ice maker showing the tray in an undeformedand a deformed or twisted position.

FIG. 4 is an inboard end view of the ice tray of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a top view of the inboard end portion of the ice tray.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the outboard end portion of the ice tray.

FIG. 7 is a front view of the tray driving gear and mechanism of theautomatic ice maker of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along the lines VIII-VIII in FIG. 7,and

FIG. 9 is a rear view of the tray driving gear shown in FIG. 7.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The present invention relates toan ice cube tray for an automatic ice making machine and in particularto an ice cube tray which is twisted and deformed to accomplish iceharvest. The ice cube tray of the present invention has a body or binportion which is formed of a relatively deformable thermoplasticmaterial and which has a plurality of molded ice cube cavities. The trayhas relatively rigid inboard and outboard end portions or flanges inorder to support the twisting motion which occurs during ice harvest.

The inboard end of the ice tray has a twist restoring element projectingfurther inwardly therefrom and designed to be extended into the icemaker mechanism. The ice maker mechanism has a tray driving gear and acoil spring positioned within the tray driving gear which acts to createa restoring force on this restoring element tending to bias the ice trayinto a normal position during the twisting operation. The twistingaction is accomplished by a rod which is rotated by the tray drivinggear and which extends through both the inboard end portion and theoutboard end portion of the tray. The rod is journalled in the inboardend portion and is keyed to the outboard end portion. Accordingly thetwisting action occurs at the outboard end portion, while the inboardend portion is held in position by a stop means utilized for thispurpose. Referring to the drawings in greater detail, an ice cube maker10 is shown generally in FIG. 1 as including an ice cube mechanism 11and an ice cube tray 12. The ice cube mechanism 11 contains the motor,gearing and other devices necessary to time the various cycles of theice maker and to control the movement of the ice tray. The details ofthe operation of the ice cube mechanism 11 are disclosed in detail in mycopending application, Ser. No. 762,891. The ice maker 10 also includesa water spout 13 which is used to fill the ice tray 12 with water whenit is in its normal horizontal position as shown in FIG. 2.

The ice tray 12 consists of a bin or body portion 14 which is made of arelatively deformable material to allow the tray to be twisted. Theinboard end portion 15 and the outboard end portion 16, however, areformed with suitable ribs and otherwise reinforced to be substantiallyrigid in order to support the force required to flex the body portion14.

The tray 12 is affixed to the ice cube mechanism 11 generally at a point17, and a rod 18 extends from the ice cube mechanism 11 beneath the trayas shown in FIG. 2 to support the tray and to act as a drive to twistthe outboard end 16 of the tray.

As shown in FIG. 1, the ice tray has a plurality of individual ice cubeopenings 19 which are communicable with one another through a series ofnotches 20 and 21 which connect adjacent ones of the openings 19. Waterfrom the spout 13 flows into one of the openings 22 and by means of thenotches 20 and 21, water is distributed uniformly in all of theindividual ice cube openings. The weight of this water is then supportedby the rod 18 which extends beneath the ice tray. As shown in FIGS. 1and 2 the rod is secured to the end of the tray by a screw 23.

The rod 18 is journalled in the inboard end 24 of the tray, but is keyedto the outboard end 16. The outboard end 16 is shown more clearly inFIG. 3 and includes a portion 24a which is relatively rigid to forcesparallel thereto. In other words, the portion 24a is relativelyresistant to flexing during a twisting operation. A reinforcing member25 is rigidly affixed to the end portion 24 and is made of a more rigidmaterial than the material comprising the portion 240 and the body orbin portion 14. In the preferred embodiment, the reinforcement member 25is formed of a relatively rigid thermoplastic substance and is moldedinto the end portion 24 during the forming of the ice tray.

The rod 18 has a pair of flat surfaces 26 and 27 which are receivedwithin an opening 28 formed within the reinforcement member 25. In thisway the rod 18 is keyed to the reinforcing member 25, and rotation ofthe rod 18 causes rotation of the outboard end 16 of the tray 12.

As shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 7, the ice maker has a stop means 29 whichmay be slidably moved within an opening 30 in the housing of the icemaker mechanism 11 to either obstruct or release the rotation of thetray. When the stop 29 is moved into the dotted position 30 shown inFIG. 3, the rotation of the tray is halted at the inboard end. Howeverthe rotation continues at the outboard end and the result is a twistingof the ice tray. The tray in the twisted position is shown in dottedlines in FIG. 3.

The tray shown in dotted lines in FIG. 3 is in the inverted position. Inparticular, the outboard end of the tray is indicated at referencenumeral 31, while the inboard end of the tray is indicated by thereference numeral 32. As shown, the inboard end is rotated approximately140 from the position shown in solid lines, while the outboard end 31 isrotated approximately 180 from the position shown in solid lines. Thedifference in the rotation of the inboard and outboard ends results inthe twist indicated generally by the reference numeral 33. This twistingaction distorts the individual ice cube cavities l9 sufficiently torelease the ice from the cavities to an ice storage bin which is locatedbelow the ice tray.

The inboard end of the tray is shown more clearly in FIG. 4 and includesa portion 34 which is reinforced by a series of ribs 35 and 36. Also,the inboard end portion has a reinforced section 36 which may include ametal insert molded into the plastic which forms the ice tray. A surface37 of this reinforced section supports the inboard end of the trayagainst the stop means 29 during the twisting operation. The section 36therefore must sustain the entire force of the twist, the twistoccurring between the section 36 and the reinforced portion 25 at theoutboard end of the tray.

The inboard end of the ice tray also includes a triangular reinforcingmember 38 which is formed integrally with a twist restoring element orfinger like projection 39. The reinforcing member 38 is also moldedintegrally with the inboard end of the tray, and the element 39 projectsfurther inwardly from the inboard end as shown in FIG. 5. The projection39 has a wider base at 40 adjacent to the point of attachment to thesupporting flange 38 than at the end or tip thereof at 41. This providesadded rigidity to the tip since this point must sustain the entire forceapplied to twist the ice tray.

The projection 39 cooperates with the ice mechanism to generate arestoring torque on the ice tray. This restoring torque can best beunderstood by reference to FIGS. 7 and 8. In FIG. 7, the cut-awayportion shows a tray driving gear 42. The tray driving gear 42 has anumber of missing teeth as at 42a, and after being nudged intoengagement with a further gear 44, rotates to provide the driving actionfor the tray. The detailed operation of the ice mechanism which includesthe tray driving gear and the associated gears are described in mycopending application, Ser. No. 762,891. The tray driving gear 42 has aninner hub 43 and an outer hub 44 (FIG. 8). The outer hub 44 is joumalledwithin a sleeve 45 which is formed at the housing of the ice mechanism11.

The outer hub 44 has a spacer bar 46 formed integrally therewith. Thespacer bar extends axially of the outer hub 44 as shown by the dottedline 47 in FIG. 8.

A torque restoring spring 48 is positioned about the inner hub 43, andhas a pair of ends 49 and 50 which are positioned at opposite sides ofthe spacer 46. Accordingly, the torsion spring 48, in the absence of arestraining element, would rotate freely with the tray driving gear 42and be carried by the spacer bar 46.

The inner hub 43 has an aperture 51 which has the same generalconfiguration as the aperture 28 (FIG. 3). The rod 18 is received withinthe aperture 51, and accordingly rotation of the tray driving gear 42,rotates the rod 18 and likewise the outboard end 16 of the ice tray.

The twist restoring element 39 is positioned against the spacer bar 46and between the opposite ends 49 and 50 of the torque restoring spring48. As the tray driving gear 42 begins to rotate during the harvestcycle, the stop means 29 is moved into position at 30, and the rod 18 isrotated by the inner hub of the tray driving gear. This causes theentire ice tray to rotate uniformly until the reinforced section orcorner 36 contacts the stop means 29. At this point in the cycle, theinboard end of the ice tray is restrained from further rotation.However, the outboard end is unrestrained and continues to rotatecausing a twist of the ice tray shown in the dotted lines in FIG.

Since the inboard end of the tray and hence the projection 39 isrestrained from further rotation, while the spacer bar 46 of the outerhub 44 continues to rotate, the projection 39 contacts the spring end49, holding it stationary. The spring end 50 continues to be rotated bythe spacer bar 46 and hence the ends of the spring are spread apartthereby creating a restoring force on the tray projection or finger 39.After the ice has been harvested, and the outboard end of the tray hastraveled the inboard end of the tray is released and moves from position30 to position 29, the restoring force exerted by the spring 48 urgesthe ice tray into its relaxed or undeformed configuration.

By forming the finger like projection 39 integrally with the ice tray,the number of parts which are coupled together to produce the restoringtorque on the tray is reduce, and a more effective connection of thetray directly to the torque restoring spring 48 is accomplished.

I claim as my invention:

1. For use in an ice harvesting device having a tray drive mechanism fortwisting an ice tray and having a twist restoring spring lockinglypositioned therein with two depending edges for receiving a projectionfrom an ice tray, a twist operated ice tray comprising:

a bin portion for supporting ice,

said bin portion being formed of a relatively deformable material andhaving relatively rigid inboard and outboard end portions,

said outboard end portion having means for being coupled to said traydrive mechanism for twisting the tray into a harvest cycle,

said inboard end portion having a twist restoring fingerlike projectionextending inwardly of said inboard end portion,

said twist restoring fingerlike projection being located off center fromthe axis of rotation of said tray and being readily receivable betweenthe depending edges of said twist restoring spring for restoring thetray to an undeformed configuration after an ice harvest.

2. A twist operated ice tray in accordance with claim I wherein saidfingerlike projection is tapered from a relatively wide base at thepoint of connection with the inboard end to a relatively narrower tip atthe outermost end thereof.

3. A twist operated ice tray in accordance with claim I wherein saidrelatively rigid inboard end portion has an aperture formed therein forreceiving a tray drive member therethrough and wherein said fingerlikeprojection is affixed to said inboard end portion adjacent to saidaperture.

4. A twist operated ice tray in accordance with claim 1 wherein saidinboard end portion includes a supporting flange for said fingerlikeprojection, said supporting flange being arranged perpendicularly ofsaid fingerlike projection and being rigidly secured to the remainder ofsaid inboard end portion.

5. A twist operated ice tray in accordance with claim 4 wherein saidsupporting flange is formed of a relatively rigid thermoplasticsubstance which is different from the material forming the remainingportion of said inboard end.

6. A twist operated ice tray in accordance with claim 5 wherein saidsupporting flange is molded into the material forming the remainingportion of said inboard end.

1. For use in an ice harvesting device having a tray drive mechanism fortwisting an ice tray and having a twist restoring spring lockinglypositioned therein with two depending edges for receiving a projectionfrom an ice tray, a twist operated ice tray comprising: a bin portionfor supporting ice, said bin portion being formed of a relativelydeformable material and having relatively rigid inboard and outboard endportions, said outboard end portion having means for being coupled tosaid tray drive mechanism for twisting the tray into a harvest cycle,said inboard end portion having a twist restoring finger-like projectionextending inwardly of said inboard end portion, said twist restoringfinger-like projection being located off centeR from the axis ofrotation of said tray and being readily receivable between the dependingedges of said twist restoring spring for restoring the tray to anundeformed configuration after an ice harvest.
 2. A twist operated icetray in accordance with claim 1 wherein said finger-like projection istapered from a relatively wide base at the point of connection with theinboard end to a relatively narrower tip at the outermost end thereof.3. A twist operated ice tray in accordance with claim 1 wherein saidrelatively rigid inboard end portion has an aperture formed therein forreceiving a tray drive member therethrough and wherein said finger-likeprojection is affixed to said inboard end portion adjacent to saidaperture.
 4. A twist operated ice tray in accordance with claim 1wherein said inboard end portion includes a supporting flange for saidfinger-like projection, said supporting flange being arrangedperpendicularly of said finger-like projection and being rigidly securedto the remainder of said inboard end portion.
 5. A twist operated icetray in accordance with claim 4 wherein said supporting flange is formedof a relatively rigid thermoplastic substance which is different fromthe material forming the remaining portion of said inboard end.
 6. Atwist operated ice tray in accordance with claim 5 wherein saidsupporting flange is molded into the material forming the remainingportion of said inboard end.